Getting The Right HIV Treatment: How to Talk to Your Doctor

Getting the Right HIV Treatment: How to Talk to Your Doctor

Which HIV/AIDS cocktail you and your doctor choose depends on factors such as:

• Your lifestyle
• Your viral load
• The status of your immune system (CD4 count)
• If you have resistance to any drugs (which can be checked before you begin a regimen)
• Other conditions you have
• Other medications you’re taking

“Become educated about the preferred options,” Taifo says. Each is unique, with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Some are taken in a combination once-a-day pill. Others follow a different, more involved schedule. Some cause minimal side effects. Others are more likely to cause noticeable or long-lasting complications. When your doctor prescribes a regimen, ask, “Why this one, of all the options?”

“Make sure your doctor understands who you are — your family history, your risk for heart disease, your preferences,” Taifo says. “These all can be factors in the selection of a regimen.”

Enhancing the Effectiveness of AIDS Cocktails

“All these regimens work — they work if patients take them,” Taiwo says. This is the most critical thing to understand, he adds: Resistance to HIV medications doesn’t just happen and is unlikely if you take your HIV/AIDS cocktail as directed. But it can happen if you end up with too little medication in your blood and uncontrolled infection. Then it also becomes a public health issue because resistant strains can be passed to others, as well.

“Those who do best are almost obsessive about their medications,” Taiwo says. “They incorporate it into their lifestyle and accept it as a way of life — they do very well.”

What seemed inconceivable not that long ago is eminently possible today. You can take HIV cocktails for a long time and live a good life.